Gender diversity & identity in Queertopia - VPRO documentary

What means gender diversity and gender identity nowadays? And what does gender diversity include? What if you are born with a body that does not meet society’s typical idea of ‘man’ or ‘woman’? Gender diversity has become more and more important and discussed. That´s why we are investigating the world of gender diversity, identity and sexual diversity.

You’ll no longer hear the announcement 'ladies and gentlemen' when travelling through a train station in the Netherlands. This has been replaced with 'dear passengers', to include all travelers: ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and everyone who does not feel comfortable within that traditional binary. Before we are born we are already put in boxes. From then on, we are socialized to understand the world through so-called ‘false oppositions’ that are like the sun and the moon, as if they cannot both be present at the same time: if you are a man you are not a woman, and vice versa. In this documentary, we explore the future of sex and gender with people who do not fit their assigned ‘box’ or who do not wish to be pushed into one.

With the introduction of civil registration around 1800, a strict classification in 'male' and 'female' was made official in Europe. Specific rights and obligations were linked to each of these two categories, such as inheritance law or conscription. But accepted norms do change: in 2017, the Dutch chain store HEMA got rid of labels as 'boys' or 'girls' from children’s clothing. Slowly but surely we find more gender neutral bathrooms. Facebook offers users a choice of 71 gender identities and the possibility to define your own. And we also see some change in traditionally strictly regulated domains like sports: in the US Patricio Manuel is the first transgender boxer to fight professionally in the male division.

In school we learned that a man is born with XY chromosomes and a woman with XX chromosomes, but the reality is not all that black and white: all kinds of combinations of chromosomes, genes and hormone levels are possible, with infinite variations in sex characteristics.

People who are born with a body that does not meet society’s typical idea of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ are intersex. They often experience taboo and are exposed to ‘normalizing’ medical treatments because they do not fit society’s understanding of what a 'normal' body is. Belgian supermodel Hanne Gaby is intersex and she is proud of it. She fights for recognition of intersex people and against secrecy and operations on healthy children. She knows from experience that these interventions do not help children, but damage them, even before they’ve had a chance to think for themselves about their bodies and gender identity.

What does a future look like in which babies are not registered as either male or female, in which everyone can determine their gender identities for themselves, free from the strict rules that society imposes when it comes to 'masculine' or 'feminine'?

Featuring, amongst others: storyteller and #BLM activist Janaya ‘Future’ Khan, model and intersex activist Hanne Gaby Odiele, boxer Patricio Manuel, artist and poet ALOK Vaid-Menon, Naomie Pieter (co-founder Black Queer & Trans Resistance Netherlands), Annelies Tukker (international policy officer at NNID, Dutch organization for sex diversity), John Swiatek (husband, intersex ally and model) and Jonah Lamers (sociologist and video producer).
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2019.
© VPRO Backlight February 2019

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Credits:
Director: Nirit Peled
Research: Marijntje Denters & Tom Reiner
Producer: Sharon Yosef
Camera: Diderik Evers, David Spaans
Sound: Sam Huisman, Benny Jansen, Bouwe Mulder
Editing: Sonja ten Boom
English, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.
French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.